Conventional muffler units usually have an essentially tubular housing with an upper shell and a lower shell, which housing forms a gas-tightly closed cavity in a mounted state, wherein an outlet pipe and an inlet pipe are arranged on said housing. Such muffler units are used, for example, for internal combustion engines of motor vehicles. Above all, the use of the muffler unit in an exhaust tract of the internal combustion engine is known in this connection. Moreover, a muffler may be arranged in modern internal combustion engines in a fresh air tract or in an intake tract of the internal combustion engine.
A muffler, which comprises a two-part housing with first and second housing parts of a shell-like design each, which housing forms a cavity for receiving a gas in a mounted state, is known from EP 1 691 050 A1. An outlet opening and an inlet opening are provided in this case in the housing, said inlet opening being arranged partly in both the first housing part and the second housing part. The outlet opening is correspondingly also arranged likewise partly in both the first housing part and the second housing part. The outlet or inlet opening is consequently arranged between the two housing parts and is partly enclosed by both housing parts. The muffler comprises, furthermore, an outlet bottom and an inlet bottom, which are arranged in the outlet opening and the inlet opening, respectively. To embody different configurations in terms of the number and position of inlet openings for feeding gas into the muffler, only the inlet bottom must be adapted, while the first and second housing parts may remain unchanged. This correspondingly also applies to the outlet bottom and to outlet openings arranged in this for removing exhaust gas from the muffler unit. In addition, a relatively complicated and error-prone welding of an outlet or inlet pipe arranged directly in the outlet opening or inlet opening to the first and second housing parts (i.e., in the area of the partition between the first and second housing parts) can be avoided. As so-called T joints are prepared during welding into larger cross sections due to the use of a separate inlet bottom and outlet bottom, the strength of the housing is especially high after welding together the two housing parts. Different muffler types, which can be adapted especially to different exhaust systems, can thus be embodied at a relatively low cost.